On Christmas Eve 1968, the Apollo 8 astronauts captivated the world with a live broadcast from orbit around the Moon.
It was the night before Christmas in 1968 when the Apollo 8 astronauts sent a message for “Good Earth” as they orbited the Moon.
NASA Apollo 8 astronauts Frank Borman, Jim Lovell and Bill Anders were the first to orbit moon December 24, 1968.
With pressure mounting under President John F. Kennedy’s opposition to the moon landing and the tragedy of the Apollo 1 fire, NASA He made bold changes to Apollo 8, moving forward with the manned mission to orbit the Moon.
Resolution sent a crew to the moon and back sans lunar modules on the first manned spaceflight by a Saturn V rocket and a single engine on a capsule to bring them home.
After launch on December 21, 1968, Bormann, Lovell and Anders reached lunar orbit on Christmas Eve, making 10 orbits around the lunar surface.
Left: Still images from the fifth transmission of the Apollo 8 mission. Right: Earth images from the last mission transmission. (Image: NASA)
(NASA)
As the crew emerged from behind the Moon during its first orbit, Apollo 8 astronauts shared images of the Moon and Earth, including views of Earth looming more than 240,000 miles away. The image of the Earth with the Moon below it has become one of the most iconic images of the Apollo era, according to NASA.
Fast forward 50 years to December 2022 and NASA Orion spaceshipdesigned to carry the next man to the moon, It also shares the same vision of Earthrise.
NASA officials have asked the Apollo 8 astronauts to get ready to share a few words with the world that will be broadcast around the globe. Boorman said in a 2008 interview that the crew were given creative freedom to choose what to say, but asked to “do something appropriate”.
With this in mind, they chose to read the first 10 verses of the Book of Genesis.
Years later, Lovell says, the letter was singled out for its universal significance.
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“The first 10 verses of Genesis are the foundation of many world religions, not just Christianity,” Lovell said in 2008. The equivalent, and they did.
As the Apollo 8 capsule orbited the Moon more than 240,000 miles from Earth, each astronaut took turns reciting verses.
“Dari kru Apollo 8 kami tutup Good night, we wish you good luck, merry Christmas and may God bless you all, all of you on good earth.”
The broadcast is seen or heard by 1 in 4 people on Earth.
The message from the moon will be the last before astronauts attempt to return to Earth, and Mission Control is waiting to see if Apollo 8’s engines burn out to maintain lunar orbit.
After the engine was successfully burned out, Lovell told Mission Control, “Roger, know that Santa is here.”
The Apollo 8 capsule crashed into the Pacific Ocean on December 27, 1968.
